Our View: A close vote should not be the end

Published: Monday, March 24, 2014 at 09:28 AM.

There is resistance to leaning on the Tourist Development Council providing bed-tax funds for the program even though Walton County continues to do just that. And then there’s the worn argument that providing lifeguard protection becomes a liability if someone drowns anyway, which doesn’t stop the county from providing other public safety services found in like communities and shouldn’t be an impediment here.

It took years and lots of hard work by all the commissioners to fund the $12.5 million expansion to the Bay County Courthouse. It took months for the commission to get a deal on a local shooting range that ended up costing the county $200,000 and Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission kicked in another $200,000.

Despite objections over the price tag from some quarters both projects broke ground this week.

It will take time and patience for the lifeguard program to win out but eventually, if the public strongly supports it and the commission is willing to fairly examine the issue, we’re confident it will take the right path.

Just as waves, over time, erode a beach’s resistance, the push to at least try some sort of lifeguard protection on a portion of our beaches seems to be slowly wearing away resistance in light of there being no real argument against it.

And just as a renourishment project seems to come along just in time as the water inches closer to structures, there is hope that the County (and the Tourist Development Council, for that matter) will renourish the idea of a pilot project to provide such protection on, at least, a trial basis.

For now, though, Commissioners Mike Thomas, George Gainer and Mike Nelson shot down a proposal that would have placed two lifeguards at the M.B. Miller County Pier at a cost to the county of $35,000 and a loss in revenue of another $30,000.

While lifeguard advocates hoped for a different outcome, the 3-2 vote lays out where the commission stands on the issue. Also, lifeguard supporters should be comforted to know that they only have to change one commissioner’s mind for the plan to move forward.
When considering the reasoning against a proposal championed by Commission Chairman Guy Tunnell, a plan certainly appears within reach, because the arguments don’t hold much water.

We pointed out in this space last year that the chance of drowning on a beach protected by lifeguards is less than one in 18 million, according to a 2001 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Injury Prevention. Also, The News Herald’s Chris Olwell previously reported that in the last five years there have been at least four drownings at the County Pier, where no lifeguards are posted, and zero drownings at the City Pier which has lifeguards.

Commissioner Guy Tunnell has worked diligently to come up with a plan and convince the other commissioners that they should spend the money on a lifeguard program, and the discussions seem less contentious now.

But Gainer, Thomas and Nelson, and their supporters, argue that the county does not have the money, which for this proposal is counted in the tens of thousands. Yet money counted by the hundreds of thousands was found for a gun range, and money conted by the millions was found for a courthouse expansion. That’s not to say those are unnecessary expenditures, but to say money seems to be found when there’s a real desire.

There is resistance to leaning on the Tourist Development Council providing bed-tax funds for the program even though Walton County continues to do just that.
And then there’s the worn argument that providing lifeguard protection becomes a liability if someone drowns anyway, which doesn’t stop the county from providing other public safety services found in like communities and shouldn’t be an impediment here.

It took years and lots of hard work by all the commissioners to fund the $12.5 million expansion to the Bay County Courthouse. It took months for the commission to get a deal on a local shooting range that ended up costing the county $200,000 and Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission kicked in another $200,000.

Despite objections over the price tag from some quarters both projects broke ground this week.

It will take time and patience for the lifeguard program to win out but eventually, if the public strongly supports it and the commission is willing to fairly examine the issue, we’re confident it will take the right path.